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Titletown teams recognized

Thu, 05/11/2017 - 9:15amgrahams1

By:

Zelerie Rose

Legendary Robbinsville football coach Bob Colvin made a rare appearance at the WNC Sports Hall of Fame Awards Banquet held Sunday, May 7 at the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville. Surrounded by family and a plethora of Robbinsville coaches, the famed coach was on hand to receive the Mountain Amateur Athletic Club Dynasty Award, given in recognition of the state 1A titles won under Colvin’s direction.
From 1969 to 1983, Colvin, who is already a member of the WNC Sports Hall of Fame and the NC Sports Hall of Fame, won 11 state titles, posted a 127-16 record, won five titles in a row from ’79-83, which included three undefeated teams. His crowning achievement came in 1976 when the Knights went undefeated while winning a record seven games with shutouts.
In Colvin’s 18-year career, which ended in 1984, the Knights also won 16 Smoky Mountain Conference titles. Both records still hold today. When combined with the state title win in 1992 under Dale Smallen and the title win in 2014 under Dee Walsh, and a Western Regional title in 1965 before teams played the Eastern Regional champion for a state crown, Robbinsville is North Carolina’s winningest football program in 77 years of playing football.
The majority of the coaches surrounding Colvin during the banquet also played for him during his heyday. Their respect and admiration for their coach was apparent in the way they helped him to the stage and supported him during the presentation. Although Colvin’s health has deteriorated the last several years and he did not speak at the banquet, he did manage a wave to the standing ovation of the crowd, and a smile for his former players.
The awards didn’t end with the dynasty award for the football program. The Black Knight Wrestling Program also won the 1A/2A Male Team – Olympic Sport award. Vying for the title was Avery County Wrestling, Brevard Tennis, Polk County Track, and Smoky Mountain Cross Country.
Wrestling coach Todd Odom had his son, senior Logan Odom, who was recently chosen for a NC High School Athletic Association’s Charlie Adam’s Endowed Scholarship; accept the award on behalf of the wrestling program,
The 56th WNC Sports Award Banquet, which is presented by Ingles and hosted by the Mountain Amateur Athletic Club, was attended by a capacity crowd of 850 people. The event, which began in 1957, awarded 20 athletes from a list of 95 high school finalists. They also awarded 10 scholarships of $1,500 each.